New Town Area Gains Interest From Developers

May 06, 2000|By KARA VICK Daily Press

JAMES CITY — Hundreds of local leaders and residents are watching with great anticipation to see who else wants to build in the Casey New Town area.

The more-than-600 undeveloped acres sit at a prime location - near the border of Williamsburg and James City County along Monticello Avenue. The new courthouse opens this month, sparking activity in an area that held only trees and cornfields a few years ago.

"Definitely, there's a great deal of interest from various parties,'' said John Horne, development manager for James City County. "The first pieces are beginning to come forward."

Developers of a post office, a church and two medical businesses are among the first to say they want to build there.

Several studies have been conducted to determine the appropriate mix of development on the Casey New Town land. The county has a master plan for the property, which calls for 2,000 residential units and 1 million square feet of nonresidential property.

What will actually be built will be determined by the Casey family, which owns the property, and the James City County Board of Supervisors, who approve land-use proposals.

The influential Crossroads group also is keeping a close eye on development of the Casey property. Crossroads includes people from organizations that have a stake in how the Route 199 corridor develops: the College of William and Mary; James City County; the City of Williamsburg; the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation; Eastern State Hospital; Hampton Roads Partnership; the Virginia Economic Development Partnership; and several other groups.

The Crossroads group meets regularly. It has come up with ideas for how it would like development to proceed on College of William and Mary land on the northeast side of the intersection of Monticello and Ironbound Road; Eastern State Hospital's land along Longhill Road; the Casey property; and other undeveloped land in the corridor.

Joe Stettinius, asset manager for the Casey family, said the interest was welcome. He said that in the development world, it's rare to see this much cooperation among localities, developers and the community.

"The relationship between all the parties is more cooperative than usual,'' he said.

Stettinius said the large involvement hadn't scared away any prospective developers. In fact, he expects the New Town property to be built out in 10 to 12 years. The original projection had been 15 to 20 years.

"There's a significant level of interest going on in the office, residential and retail area of New Town,'' he said. Details on other proposals should be announced in a few weeks, he said.

County planning staff has been working with potential developers to fine-tune their conceptual plans, Horne said.

One project that the staff is reviewing is a $60 million retirement community called WindsorMeade of Williamsburg. WindsorMeade, being created by Virginia United Methodist Homes Inc., wants to build on 105 acres north of Monticello Road and west of Route 199. The community will include health care, assisted living and independent living for about 400 people.

Joan R. Shepherd, director of marketing for WindsorMeade, said the group was choosing to build in the New Town area because it's a growing area and because the hospital and Colonial Williamsburg were close.

"It just seems like a perfect location,'' she said.

Shepherd said 70 percent of the units must be reserved before the group breaks ground sometime next year. It's hoped that the community will open to residents in 2003.

Other projects planned for the New Town area include:

* A new 40,000-square-foot post office is being planned on land south of Monticello.

The new office will ease the congestion at the current building at Boundary and Lafayette streets. The new full-service facility will be about the same size as the existing post office but will have more parking. It's hoped to be open by 2002.

* On the east side of the post office is the site for the Advanced Vision Institute, a laser-surgery center.

The building will be about 13,000 square feet, with 5,000 more square feet to be built in the future, according to plans.

* To the east of the post office sits land that the Methodist church wants to develop.

The church is still developing a congregation and has no building proposal yet, Horne said.

* Near Ironbound and Monticello Avenue - and behind the new courthouse - Tidewater Physical Therapy is building an orthopedic center.

This 22,000-square-foot building is under construction.

The building's design follows the guidelines for the New Town master plan.

Kara Vick can be reached at 229-3784 or by e-mail at kvick@dailypress.com